Special and Essential Chinese New Year Food

Known as ''Tang Yuan'' in South China and ''Yuan Xiao'' in north, Glutinous Rice Balls is usually filled with white sugar, peanut, sesame, bean paste, walnut, nutlet and jujube paste and wrapped by glutinous rice flour. Generally, the Glutinous Rice Balls is boiled to eat and it can be either sweet or salty, either stuffed or not stuffed. In places like Jiangsu and Shanghai, people would eat Glutinous Rice Balls for the breakfast of Chinese New Year's Day. With varied flavors, the rice glue ball can be boiled, fried or steamed, and has the symbolic meaning of reunion and happiness. Generally speaking, South China celebrates the Lantern Festival with '' Tang Yuan '' while the North with '' Yuan Xiao ''.

As another Chinese New Year food popular in many places, Nian Gao is made of glutinous rice and other ingredients and it is also known as ''Year High Cake'', having the symbolic meaning of ''life and work getting higher or better year after year''. The glutinous rice cake can be either yellow or white, which symbolizes gold or silver and implies making a fortune in the New Year.

Spring Rolls a thin stuffed sheet of dough, baked or fried. Thin and crisp, the Spring Rolls is quite delicious and it is essential to Spring Festival in South China. In addition to welcoming the spring, Spring Rolls also shows people's praying for harvest, as it is stuffed with all kinds of fresh vegetables. In some places, people believe those who eat the spring pancake rolled with celery or Chinese chives will be more diligent, long-lived and prosperous, because ''diligence'' sounds the same to ''celery'' while ''chive'' has the same pronunciation with ''longevity'' in Chinese.

In many places, Eight Delicacies Rice or Eight-Treasure Rice is must-have during the Chinese New Year. It is quite complicated to cook Eight Delicacies Rice which requires eight exquisite materials, mainly glutinous rice and dried fruits including red jujubes, lotus seeds, dried longans etc. Taking red bean paste as the stuffing, the steamed Eight Delicacies Rice is tasty and boasts agreeable sweetness. Basically, the rice is round and enough for the whole family to enjoy, for the meaning of reunion. Also, Eight Delicacies Rice has the symbolic meaning of peace, good luck and wealth.

In South China, Hot Pot is a popular dish at the New Year's Eve dinner, as it can create a warm and prosperous atmosphere. Hot Pot is a savior for the cold winter - especially on the New Year's Eve, because the hot dishes will cool off soon. It is warm to eat Hot Pot during the Chinese New Year, which has the auspicious meaning of reunion. When the family enjoys Hot Pot together, everyone would be happy and warm. As the first choice of family reunion dinner, Hot Pot can accompany the whole family to watch the Spring Festival gala in a glow of enthusiasm.